7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

    under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

8 He sits in ambush in the villages;

    in hiding places he murders the innocent.

His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

9     he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;

he lurks that he may seize the poor;

    he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.

10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,

    and fall by his might.

11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,

    he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Continuing in the theme of the Psalm, the description of the unrighteous is furthered. Far from being a detailed list of everything that he does, this list moves from descriptive to image. A man may not think he curses (v. 7) but what is his perspective on the poor (v. 2)? He is legally innocent of ambush, murder and stalking but is his heart full of greed (v. 3)?

The heart that says “God has forgotten” is often encapsulated in desperate self-exaltation. This is the prohibited exaltation at the cost of others (v. 10). The imagery provided by the Psalmist does not provide relief to the modern reader. For in utilizing the imagery it doesn’t describe a strict accusation but a clear picture of the perversity of the unrighteous.